1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains generally to traffic safety devices, and more particularly to a method and system that provides remote alerts to roadway personnel in response to traffic incursions.
2. Description of the Background Art
Protecting road construction personnel from injuries that arise from vehicles straying from marked roadway boundaries or directives provided by safety icons has long been a high priority of various transportation organizations. It should be appreciated that safety icons may be provided in any of a number of different forms, including signage, safety barricades, safety barrels, safety nets, safety fences, traffic cones, traffic posts and so forth that are configured for directing traffic flow or displaying work site related warning signage and information. A number of systems have been developed toward fulfilling the goal of warning construction workers when a vehicle incursion occurs in association with these safety icons. For example, a number of light and sound devices have been proposed which attach to a traffic safety cone, or similar safety icon, for generating an alerting annunciation, such as light or sound, to warn construction personnel of a hazard when the safety icon is struck by a vehicle. Unfortunately, construction sites are often extremely high noise environments in which alerting sounds, and/or lighting, positioned more than a few yards away may not be noticed by busy construction crews. Further exacerbating the alert cognition problem, many workers wear noise attenuating hearing protection to minimize the noise hazard to which their ears are subjected.
As sound and light are attenuated in free space according to the square of the distance, it is also not surprising that the sound (or light) generated from a traffic cone alert device may only be recognized by personnel positioned within a short distance of the alert unit. The distance over which the warning may be heard, or seen, may be insufficient to allow workers to determine the cause of the alert and to extract themselves and others from danger. As a result, many workers are struck by oncoming vehicles every year. It should be appreciated that a number of causes may exist for highly erratic driving, for example the driver may be inept, out of control, intoxicated, asleep, in the throes of a physical situation (heart attack, stroke, and so forth), homicidal, suicidal, or combinations thereof along with other similar dangerous states of mind and/or body. Consequently, since existing systems can only reliably communicate warnings over a short distance, road construction personnel are subject to increased risk of injury or death.
Therefore, a warning system is needed that is capable of providing reliable incursion alerts to roadway personnel sufficiently in advance of when the oncoming vehicle poses a threat to construction workers located near the incursion or at any desired distance therefrom.